when she loved me
by emerald days
Summary: Ron visits Hermione in a hospital many many years after the war. He wants her to stay for him but she is dying for the other man.


**When She Loved Me **

_I came up with this story while listening to Sarah McLachlan's 'when somebody loved me'. The lyrics are from the song._

An old man made his way toward the room he always visited. It was on the third floor and you could see a beautiful view of the park just below it. Children's laughter could be heard as well as the shouts of parents telling them to slow down. It was a rather large hospital. Clean and white. In his opinion it was too organized.

He had a ritual every morning. That was to climb the stairs to the second floor, then take the elevator to the third. It was a time to prepare himself for the visit. He soon came to the door and knocked. A voice answered telling him to enter.

"Morning Hermione. You're looking good." She smiled weakly at him.

"Hello Ron." She said and gestured toward the chair near her bed.

"I was watching the children in the park." She said softly. "There was one girl who had the messiest brown hair, even more than mine."

"Well I doubt that." He said trying to sound cheerful. Hermione smiled sadly. It pained him to see her dying every day in front of his eyes like this.

_When somebody loved me,  
>Everything was beautiful<br>Every hour we spent together lives within my heart  
><em>

"It seems a life time ago when we were young like that." Hermione said in her soft voice.

"Well it was a really long time ago." He joked but Hermione continued.

"And yet an even longer time, when Severus and I were the parents chasing our kids."

His heart dropped. He hated it when HE came in. Hermione's late husband, Severus Snape. He felt as though he lost everything to the man. Well, it was only the girl he loved but it felt like everything.

"Ron, I shall be joining him soon." Hermione whispered.

"What, NO!" He said in a loud voice.

"Ron, please. Let me go." She had tears in her eyes and he knew she was not just talking about her dying. She knew that even though he had married and had a family of his own, he still loved her.

"Hermione you can't leave me, you can't leave the ones that love you. What about your family? You have a great-granddaughter due next month."

Hermione held up her hand. "Ron, I can't live without Severus, he was the world to me."

When he was younger he would have just lost it and shouted or stormed out of the room but now he felt helpless. She would always love HIM, and he himself would always be second best, just a best friend.

_And when she was sad,  
>I was there to dry her tears<br>And when she was happy,  
>So was I<br>When she loved me  
><em>

"Hermione, you know I always loved you. Please stay for me." He said in a shaky voice.

Hermione took his hand and said, "Ron I will always love you. But I just can't go on without Severus. He…." Hermione could say no more due to the tears.

The nurse came in and seeing Hermione so distraught, ushered him from the room.

_Through the summer and the fall  
>We had each other, that was all<br>Just she and I together,  
>Like it was meant to be<br>_

He walked through the park that was visible from Hermione's window. He watched young children running around laughing. Had it really been 60 years since the three of them would play like that? When he still thought that Hermione would one day be his beautiful bride? He remembered when she would hold her tears in front of the Gryfindor fireplace. He would comfort her and make her laugh. Her smile warmed him much more than the roaring fire before them.

_And when she was lonely,  
>I was there to comfort her<br>And I knew that she loved me  
><em>

He remembered the days after the final battle. Hermione was helping out in the hospital wing and he as one of the injured looked at her as though she were an angel. Her fluffy hair tied in a pony tail and her sad smile as she looked at the suffering. But those dreams of him and her together never came true.

_So the years went by  
>I stayed the same<br>But she began to drift away  
>I was left alone<br>Still I waited for the day  
>When she'd say I will always love you<br>_

Severus Snape, he really didn't know what was so amazing about HIM. He was around 20 years older, not really handsome, and had a twisted personality, but Hermione fell in love with him. He and Harry had done all the spells they knew to determine whether or not she was under a spell but no, the way her eyes shone with love and happiness when she looked at him always hit him hard. The way she spoke of him with respect and admiration was painful. He remembered looking at the couple in the years to come. They had a private wedding with just the two of them so he only saw pictures of Hermione in the white beautiful dress but he cried over it. He saw Hermione's figure change as HIS child grew within her. He watched as Hermione glowed with pregnancy and motherhood. They had two children, two girls who looked just like Hermione but with HIS eyes and long fingers. During those times they had drifted apart. Harry had died and the grief weighed heavily on their shoulders. Eventually he himself had also married and had children. They were younger than hers so they were never really close. And only 7 months ago when Severus Snape died Hermione seemed to die with him. Her eyes where dull and lifeless, she lost her strength.

_Lonely and forgotten,  
>I'd never thought she'd look my way<br>And she smiled at me and held me just like she used to_ do  
><em>Lik<em>e_ she loved me  
>When she loved me<em>

Hermione's dead eyes haunted me. Oh, how I wanted life back in them. It reminded him of the pain in her eyes when he told her he loved her, just before she married HIM. She smiled and hugged him but pulled away before he could tighten his arms around her. She put her hand on his cheek and said "I love you, too. But Severus is my world." She smiled softly and walked away.

_When somebody loved me  
>Everything was beautiful<br>Every hour we spent together lives within my heart  
><span>When she loved me<span>_

I received an owl the next day telling me that Hermione had passed in her sleep.

The end


End file.
